American children spend perhaps 25% of their waking lives in front of TV sets. Although extensive research has been done on the effects of television viewing, particularly on social behaviors, there has been little research on the nature of children's television viewing itself. Most research which has attempted to measure the amount and kind of home TV viewing has used parental questionnaires and viewing diaries, the reliability and validity of which are unknown. Two studies have attempted to directly observe family TV viewing by means of a camera installed in the home. These studies were beset by methodological problems, small scale in nature, and incompletely reported. The present research improves on and extends the previous efforts by making use of recent developments in video technology and by developing a computer controlled videotape scoring system which allows a far more extensive and detailed data analysis than has previously been available. The present study involves installing a time-lapse video observational system in the homes of preschool children. Data collection will soon begin with the goals of testing the reliability and validity of parental viewing estimates; detailed describing preschoolers' TV viewing as it actually occurs in the home; describing individual viewing styles; examine tendencies of viewers to "lock-in" to TV viewing; describe factors of the home, child, and TV programs that influence amount and kind of viewing; relate TV viewing to attentional abilities and social role learning. Control groups are employed in order to determine the effects of placing a video system in the home.